Edward observed the monsters facing him. They were obviously predators. From the way their shape was streamlined to gain in speed, from their prominent leg muscles, and from their impressive maws filled with teeth, they were optimized to hunt and kill prey.

They must be the reason the Murlocs’ corpses are reduced to such a state. This cavern must be a free buffet for them. They are predators but they won’t refuse free meat.

Now the question is, can they use aura or not?

Edward didn’t activate his acceleration powers yet, but he already reinforced his aura with armor. He wouldn’t underestimate them. He still remembered how that Regal wolf had been able to cut right through his armor with its aura, both bypassing his defenses and affecting him with an ailment preventing healing. Edward didn’t have the same body size that the monsters he was facing, one bad hit could turn into a serious injury.

The monsters took the first move. Two of the massive crocodile-like creature charge at him with impressive speed. Their massive legs covered a large distance with each stride. Edward had been ready for it and he teleported to the side, hearing an audible snap as the beasts bit into empty air.

They didn’t use aura or any powers yet.

One of the creatures that had stayed further back aimed at Edward and spat a hard pressure stream of water at him. Edward ducked under it, the water stream landing against the stone ground further away and exploding on impact. It left a small hole in the stone and the water sprayed everywhere.

I will need to be careful with my footing. The stone is already smooth and slippery due to the continuous presence of water. Those monsters have some water control ability, but if that is all, they are done for. Now it’s my turn to act.

Edward hurled two aura blades at the monsters that had come after him. Fear flashed through the monsters’ eyes and they didn’t try to confront the blades, instead avoiding them with surprising alacrity considering their size.

Um? Do they have already faced aura blades before? From the way they reacted, they seem used to that kind of attack.

The aura blades missed the beasts and dug cuts into the smooth stone. The three beasts at the back took turns shooting water streams at Edward, while the two closer beasts charged at him trying to flank him rather than fight him frontally.

At least I got all of their attention. Edward thought while avoiding their attacks. He didn’t wait for the monsters to charge at him and instead teleported right above the drakes shooting at him from the back. Fifty meters of teleportation range was a distance that shouldn’t be underestimated in a fight, being in the back wasn’t enough to escape Edward.

He twirled in midair while lengthening one aura blade at a startling speed. By the time he finished his rotation, the blade was two meters in length, long enough to cut right through the neck of the massive crocodile under him.

One down. Edward thought as he landed on the beheaded creature.

The monsters were bewildered by Edward’s change in location. Seeing their target disappear, the two beasts that had run after him looked around, spotted the group of adventurers at the entrance of the cavern, and charged at them instead.

Fuck. I’m not sure they can take care of two of them at once. Edward wasn’t able to push his advantage and had to teleport back after the creatures. This time they were slightly off his teleportation range, and Edward materialized behind them while they were still running at a fast speed.

I won’t be able to make it in time by simply running after them. “Rèng khwāmrĕw”. Edward used his acceleration power. The creatures running in front of him slow down to the pace of a Sunday jogger. He grinned and sprinted after them, his teleportation now in cool down

While running he elongated one of his daggers with aura then jumped onto one of the beasts. He landed with a superhero landing, his fist carrying the aura blade, piercing deep into the creature’s skull. The creature stumbled, sliding on the ground with muscular spasms.

Edward didn’t stop there and charged at the second drake. It was already dangerously close to the adventurers. Aquamarine, Norte, and Brian had erected walls of water and wind, but Edward wasn’t sure it would be enough to stop the massive creature’s charge.

Edward run after it and instead of killing it, he rammed into its side, pushing it out of the way. The monster crashed against the cavern’s wall and shook his head in disorientation. Edward disabled his acceleration to conserve his stamina. He didn’t need his acceleration power to deal with only one of those monsters.

With his teleportation off cool down, he teleported himself on top of the beast and finished it with a clean aura blade strike in its skull.

“Just in time.” Edward showed off, retrieving his dagger from the monster’s skull. “Only two more to go.”

“This is bullshit,” Brian complained. “We were supposed to fight eventual Murlocs, and this is what we have to face instead.”

“It’s not like we have a choice. And be thankful that Edward did already most of the job for us.” Charles corrected him.

“It would take some time, but I feel that we should be able to take care of one of the drakes by ourselves,” Norte told them while staring at the two monsters left near the water expanse.

“Don’t worry. I will deal with them. You take care of Leyla.” Edward declared while walking toward the monsters.

Everybody froze when they sensed a terrifying presence coming in their direction from the water. Two tentacles emerged from the water and drag the crocodile-like beasts standing nearby. The beasts screamed in horror before being cut in two by the tentacles, which somehow absorbed their blood essence in the process.

The group of adventurers was paralyzed in horror, the mere presence of the creature plunging them in fear. Even Edward had trouble moving, his arms were shaking and he had trouble controlling his movements.

The creatures had a tall three-meter humanoid body standing atop big fleshy tentacles. His face didn’t have a mouth but only two expressionless black eyes.

Having finished absorbing the blood essence of the crocodile monsters, the creature turned its attention to them.

“RUN!!” Edward shouted, shaking the adventurers out of their stupor.

They did as they were told and ran toward the cavern exit while carrying Leyla with them.

I know this creature. This is a Mare Irae. This is the creature from which the Vega family is supposed to obtain their aura power.

Edward was still shaken by the creature’s presence but he frowned in confusion. While am I so shaken by facing a dangerous monster? This is not the first time I have faced powerful monsters on my own.

He remembered the information he had read about the creature, mentioning a mental power to inflict its enemies with fear.

This fucker is just like the one-eyed creep in Vipin Forest. It is messing with my mind.

Edward let his aura boil around him in anger. As soon as his aura covered him from head to toe, he felt his mind clear. The creature still felt dangerous, but he wasn’t paralyzed by fear anymore, his movements were back to fluid motions. It was about time since the Mare Irae was heading his way.

Edward started to run parallel to it, not wanting to go anywhere near the creature after seeing it cut the giant crocodiles in two and drink their blood essence directly through its tentacles as if it was fruit juice.

This is bad, it seems tough. Even though I was under its fear effect, it was the right choice for Leyla and the rest to leave. I have to learn more about its abilities. On top of its terror effect, it can obviously use aura, but to which point? And does it have additional power? How the heck was the Vega family even able to kill such things?

Edward continued to run, leading the Mare Irae in a circle around the cavern. Even without utilizing his acceleration Edward was able to keep up with the creature’s pace. Being at the predator stage, his body was drastically enhanced compared to a normal human, despite being a lot smaller than the monster his speed was not inferior.

Time to test it.

While running, Edward suddenly turned back for a split moment to fire an aura blade at the creature before resuming his run. He didn’t watch the result with his naked eyes but he was able to see the results with his aura senses. The monster simply smacked his attack with one of its tentacles, completely unaffected by it apart from a faint shimmer when the tentacles swat away the attack.

Of course, it has aura armor. It would be too easy otherwise. Edward sighed internally. This is going to be a long fight. Due to its size, it probably has more blood essence and aura than me, so an endurance fight is a no-go, I would run dry before exhausting it. That leaves me with overcoming its armor and killing it with one blow, but I’m not confident I will be able to achieve such a feat. What should I do?

Edward was thinking about a viable course of action when the Mare Irae got enough chasing after him. Just like Edward a moment before it threw an aura blade at him, except the tentacles throwing it were a lot bigger than Edward’s dagger, and so was the aura blade.

Edward even teleported away rather than trying to duck under the attack. The blade was a good half a meter thick and three-meter long, it cut a long gash through the ground sending rocks flying everywhere as a result.

Holy moly!! This thing is not joking. I better be far away from its attacks.

At the same time, if it is throwing attacks such as this one, maybe exhausting it isn’t such a bad idea after all.

As they ran the monster grew more and more enraged, the rhythm of his attacks increasing, sometimes even firing two aura blades one after the other. Edward was running everywhere just like a Kangaroo rat fleeing from a rattlesnake. While he was still able to avoid the large aura blades, using a combination of teleportation and acceleration, he couldn’t always do so for the resulting flying rocks. For those, he had no choice but to endure and use the aura surrounding him to deflect the hits as best as he could. That didn’t prevent his body from being covered in bruises.

Finally, the monster started to tire and its firing rate decreased. However, it was still chasing after Edward. Seriously, couldn’t it go after easier prey? At this point, I’m half convinced it is still chasing after me only because I offended its pride by staying alive for so long.

Anyway, it’s too late to leave now. Now it’s my turn. You had me run away under a rain of rocks for the past half an hour. Let me show you what I can do.